Lost Score By Liszt To Be Sold

By MICHAEL KIMMELMAN

Published: November 24, 1987

A major and previously unknown score by Franz Liszt is to be auctioned at Sotheby's in London on Friday. The work for piano bears no title, date or signature but has been identified by Liszt experts as having been written by the composer between 1830 and 1832, when he was in his late teens and early 20's and was active throughout Europe as a concert pianist. It is full of the extravagantly virtuosic writing that characterized his work in this period.

''I don't think there has ever been a Liszt discovery on this scale,'' said Stephen Roe, a director in Sotheby's department of manuscripts in London. ''All of the other discoveries of Liszt in the 20th century have been rather small.''

''This does seem to be a genuine and hitherto unknown piece,'' said Allan Walker, a noted Liszt scholar at McMaster University in Ontario. Mr. Walker was one of several experts who confirmed the authenticity of the handwriting for Sotheby's. Although he has not seen the entire 36-page score, Mr. Walker said that from what he knew of the piece, it is a significant discovery and should enter the standard repertory.

The score, on two types of paper and written in brown ink in a hurried, untidy hand with many corrections and alterations, is in the form of a fantasy. Its discovery is significant, Mr. Roe said, not only because the work had been entirely unknown but also because it contains early examples of Liszt's later writings and style. 'Just Sort of Walked In'

Mr. Roe said only that the score ''just sort of walked in'' to Sotheby's late last year and that it belongs to a private owner. He has shown it to Liszt scholars in Britain, Sweden, the United States, Hungary and Canada, he said, and none had heard of it before.

Mr. Roe believes it may be the ''Grand Solo Caracteristique a Propos d'une Chansonette de Panseron,'' a work to which the composer refers in a letter of Dec. 12, 1832. The piece, Mr. Roe said, contains a long section that seems to be an early version of ''La Chapelle de Guillaume Tell,'' a work by Liszt from 1835-36. Pedal markings and fingerings in the manuscript were evidently added after it was written, suggesting to Mr. Roe that the composer performed the work himself.

The piece, Mr. Roe said, provides early instances of Liszt's later compositional style, including his use of progressive tonality and other experimental techniques. The fantasy begins with a long introduction marked ''presto a capriccio'' in C minor and ends with a bravura coda in E. In between there are several sections, including a chansonette with variations and an extensive larghetto religioso that contains the Chapelle material.

During his lifetime, Liszt had more than 100 publishers, and many of his pieces remain lost. But finding a work of this scale that had been entirely unknown is extraordinary, Mr. Roe said. The score is expected to sell for $:40,000 to $:60,000, or $70,000 to $105,000.